NEW ROCHELLE, NY — The Iona University women's basketball team dropped its first Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference contest on Thursday evening, falling to Fairfield 72-50 at the Hynes Athletic Center.
 
Rookie Chloe Vasquez led the Maroon & Gold with a team and game-high 16 points, seven rebounds to go with a pair of assists. Senior Judith Gomez added nine points along with three rebounds, two assists and two steals.

THE RUNDOWN

The visiting Stags raced out to an early 8-2 advantage three minutes into the contest. Iona punched back on a made free throw from senior Talia DePetrillo and a triple by Gomez. Fairfield connected on its first three-pointer before a 6-0 run by the Gaels on layups from DePetrillo, Fajardo and Vasquez to tie the game up at 11 all. After both teams traded baskets, the Stags closed the frame on a 6-2 run to take a 19-15 lead.
 
Gomez picked up the first five points of the second frame for Iona to cut the deficit to one, 21-20 with 8:46 to go in the frame. Back-to-back three pointers from the Stags on the next two possessions forced Iona to call timeout. Fairfield continued to hold the advantage as the quarter wore on before Iona erupted with an 8-2 run with a knock down triple form DePetrillo cutting the deficit to one, 31-30 with just over a minute left in the half. The Stags would get the last basket to take a 33-30 lead into the intermission.
 
Sophomore Zoey Ward got the Gaels on the scoreboard first on the opening possession of the third quarter before the Stags used an 8-0 run to extend the lead and force Iona to call timeout. Fairfield continued to push the tempo scoring nine more points for the largest lead of the game, 50-32 with 4:23 left to play in the quarter. Vasquez broke the scoring drought for Iona with a three-point heave as the shot clock expired on the next possession. Fairfield scored the final two baskets of the frame and held a 18-15 scoring margin in the final frame for the 72-50 win over the Maroon & Gold.

IONA PERFORMERS

• Vasquez scored six of her team-high 16 points in the fourth quarter. She tallied her third double-digit scoring effort and grabbed a career-high seven rebounds.
• Gomez finished with nine points and a team-high two steals.
• Five different Gaels recorded a team-high two assists.

THE OPPONENT

• Kaety L'Amoreaux recorded a team and game-high 16 points and six assists to go with five rebounds.
• Emina Selimovic registered 15 points and five rebounds for the Stags.
• Sydni Scott also finished the game in double figures, chipping in 10 points.

TEAM STATS

• Fairfield shot 46.9% for the game while Iona was held to just 34.6% shooting from the field.
• The Stags connected on nine three pointers for a 30% clip and the Gaels only connected on three triples at a 23.1% rate.
• Fairfield dominated the glass over Iona, 41-30.
• The Gaels committed 15 turnovers leading to 20 Fairfield points while the Stags turned the ball over 12 times leading to 13 points for the Gaels.

UP NEXT

Iona travels up I-95 for a 2:00 p.m. contest on Saturday, January 11 at Quinnipiac.